If the Olympics were to come to Florida...

[Andyxox]

If there was a bid put up and the People at the Olympic Committee had the unusual foresight to pick the location of the Olympic Games to be in Florida, which city and/or region do you think would be best suited for the job? Would you welcome the Games, or not?

Try not to derail this topic, just want to hear your opinions...

[jzquince69]

Originally Posted by Andyxox

If there was a bid put up and the People at the Olympic Committee had the unusual foresight to pick the location of the Olympic Games to be in Florida, which city and/or region do you think would be best suited for the job? Would you welcome the Games, or not?

Try not to derail this topic, just want to hear your opinions...

long before you joined this forum, this topic came up and was beaten to death...

how does one derail this topic anyway? the issue calls for an analysis of which regions have the facilities and infrastructure to handle the games.

there's no opinion necessary, since Miami and Orlando are the only two regions with enough hotel rooms to handle the Games. Miami has more stadiums... Orlando has a larger convention center and larger hotels. Both MIA and OIA could handle the passenger traffic. Miami has 3 modes of rail transit and Orlando would have at least one (guaranteed) by the time they came here.

the other issue deals with whether the respective communities would want them to come. who knows.

BTW, Tampa/Orlando put in a bid for 2012 back in 1998, are you familiar with that?

[ChuckScraperMiami#1]

Originally Posted by jzquince69

long before you joined this forum, this topic came up and was beaten to death...

how does one derail this topic anyway? the issue calls for an analysis of which regions have the facilities and infrastructure to handle the games.

there's no opinion necessary, since Miami and Orlando are the only two regions with enough hotel rooms to handle the Games. Miami has more stadiums... Orlando has a larger convention center and larger hotels. Both MIA and OIA could handle the passenger traffic. Miami has 3 modes of rail transit and Orlando would have at least one (guaranteed) by the time they came here.

the other issue deals with whether the respective communities would want them to come. who knows.

BTW, Tampa/Orlando put in a bid for 2012 back in 1998, are you familiar with that?

JZ , my friend,
I agree with you 100 %,

this thread should be deleted immediately IMO,
Jason ???
This might start a problem

ps. its a city against city issue IMO,

[brickell]

The Pan-Am games were to be held in Miami at one point, but there was a big spat about Cuban athletes coming and I think they ended up moving it.

[SDK4]

I would like to see a joint bid between Orlando-Tampa happen again sometime in the future, but if the US wins 2016, then it might be 20-30 years down the road. Miami is always a great option as well.

[Trainman Dave]

The Olympic Games are usually held in August or September

The hurricane season I doubt that the Olympic committee will risk It

[miamicanes]

I think Miami is the obvious site for the olympics in Florida. It has (or will have, by ~2016+) everything it needs venue-wise, and there's really no non-political reason to split events between Miami and anywhere outside of southeast Florida. HOWEVER, passenger rail service with end-to-end travel times between Miami and Tampa & Orlando of 4 hours or less would be an absolute prerequisite.

With the ability to take daytrips down to Miami by train, I'd speculate that the overwhelming majority of American and Canadian visitors would end up staying in Orlando or Tampa, while the majority of other visitors would stay in the Miami area. Let's face it... middle-class people don't go to the Olympics unless it's practically in their back yard. It just plain costs too much to travel halfway around the world AND stay in a foreign big city during its most expensive week or two in history. The only way middle-class Americans and Canadians would be staying in Miami is if they have friends or relatives to stay with.

OK, I'm generalizing a bit, and I'm sure there'd be a few dozen middle-class Americans staying in Miami, but I think everyone can see my point... value-oriented familes would stay in Orlando or Tampa, take the kids down to Miami for a day or two, and spend the rest of the trip at Disney/MGM/Universal/Busch Gardens. The foreign visitors (almost all of whom would be wealthy) would stay in Miami (at least for a few days, before heading to Orlando) because they're likely to be rich enough to not really CARE how expensive Miami would be.

Ultimately, Orlando and Tampa would probably end up with the better end of the bargain... they'd both get to enjoy a huge surge in tourism for a few weeks, without having to hemorrhage cash on showcase Olympic infrastructure the way Miami taxpayers would. They wouldn't get to bask in the glamour, but I suspect the cash registers would still be running nonstop, regardless of the Olympics' official Florida venue.

That said, they'd DEFINITELY have to hold the Olympics early, like May or June. A major hurricane during the olympics would be a disaster... a major hurricane a few weeks before would be almost as bad.

[ChuckScraperMiami#1]

Originally Posted by Trainman Dave

The Olympic Games are usually held in August or September

The hurricane season I doubt that the Olympic committee will risk It

Train Man Dave ,
my friend, WOW,
I didn't even think about that ,
could be the reason why Florida has never held the Olympics at all,
the Insurance rates would also be high to hold it here anywhere in Florida,
NOW , I know the Olympic Games will Never be in the State of Florida,
Could you just Imagine if the games were here next month , and
Hurricane Andrew was coming at the same time, and gave everyone a ONE DAY Warning , geesh

[Trainman Dave]

The only good reason to bid for the olympics in florida is to force the state DoT to solve a few of our transportation problems!

[Trainman Dave]

Originally Posted by miamicanes

That said, they'd DEFINITELY have to hold the Olympics early, like May or June. A major hurricane during the olympics would be a disaster... a major hurricane a few weeks before would be almost as bad.

Has that ever been done before?

I don't think so because that would conflict with so many annual events!

[SDK4]

Just think, if Tampa had gotten the 2012 Olympics, we would be just a mere 3-4 years away from high speed rail. Now its looking more like 15-20.

[pantherpaddler]

IMO, if the Olympics were anywhere in Florida, it would probably be in May, to avoid the warmer weather of August, the hurricanes and the rainy season.

[HeartofFlorida]

Originally Posted by SDK4

Just think, if Tampa had gotten the 2012 Olympics, we would be just a mere 3-4 years away from high speed rail. Now its looking more like 15-20.

You really think it will happen that soon? I wish I had your enthusiasm. After high speed rail was repealed, my confidence in the state hasn't been the same. I-4 is a mess and with planned/completed construction, will continue to be congested until the wee hours of the morning.

[jzquince69]

hurricanes... never thought of that before...

well, that would probably give Tampa/Orlando and edge over Miami simply b/c of geography-- notwithstanding the Charlie/Francis/Jean trio of terror.

HSR: God only knows when and if. If there is a business advantage to link the 4 metros with it, they'll find a way to do it.

But I will tell you this, Miami has had Metrorail/Mover/Tri-rail and Metrobus-only lanes on US 1 for a while. Jax has their AGT downtown. Tampa has the Streetcar. Orlando has Lymmo lanes downtown and looks to be getting CFRAIL in 2 years. I think when more people around the state start getting used to rail/transit, ala, being in their own backyards, there will be a bigger push for HSR. But I think the big push will come from larger companies versus mom and pop.

As for Tampa/Orlando 2012, so far, I-4 has been widened between the two cities. the only thing missing is a train connecting the two, and an extra lane on I-4 in each direction. but all of the bridges over I-4 have been replaced in Polk, Hillsborough, Osceola and Orange. It is amazing when you think about it.

[SDK4]

Originally Posted by HeartofFlorida

You really think it will happen that soon? I wish I had your enthusiasm. After high speed rail was repealed, my confidence in the state hasn't been the same. I-4 is a mess and with planned/completed construction, will continue to be congested until the wee hours of the morning.

Well, I mean I think within the next decade high speed rail will come back up on the agenda. And then within another 5 years after that the first pieces will be coming online, presumably on the Tampa-Orlando route. I honestly think by 2022 or so, you should be able to take a high speed train from Tampa International Airport to Disney.

[jzquince69]

Originally Posted by SDK4

Well, I mean I think within the next decade high speed rail will come back up on the agenda. And then within another 5 years after that the first pieces will be coming online, presumably on the Tampa-Orlando route. I honestly think by 2022 or so, you should be able to take a high speed train from Tampa International Airport to Disney.

with regard to costs, Orlando is doing it's part right now in implementing an intermodal center at OIA, which will have HSR linkup along with LRT, buses, etc... the HSR would probably follow the 417 easement south of OIA and head west towards WDW, or take the 528 easement towards the OCCC en route to WDW and eventually Tampa.

In fact Miami is also doing its part as well, building the MIC and all near MIA.

[Talleyrand]

Yeah, hurricanes would be an issue for sure.

I guess what they could do is what Cincinnati tried to do a few years ago and make it a regional olympics with different games in different cities. This method quadrupled the infrastructure and they planned on building rails that would link the cities conveniently for the visitors. I think if Cincy won the bid, they would have some games in Columbus, Dayton, Louisville, Lexington, etc.

If Florida tried that, we could get a fast city-city rail...connect Tampa to Orlando to West Palm to Miami to Ft. Myers and try to get Daytona and Jax included as well. And it could still get used afterwards by tourists who want to go to Disney but take a side trip to Miami or something. That way if a hurricane threatened, they could have backup plans to move the games to other cities.

btw, this is my first post so hello everybody!

[ChuckScraperMiami#1]

Originally Posted by jzquince69

In fact Miami is also doing its part as well, building the MIC and all near MIA.

JZ , my friend,
talk about " MIC ", ( see ya real soon ) " key ", " Y " because we need this " key "Intermodel Center near our Airport,
and now it's a reality, Its finally going Vertical after so amny years of the stalled 2 Billion dollar project of a huge 15,000 car rental garage and a 4 way Train link ( Metro-Rail, Tri-Rail, Airport People Mover Monorail and Metro Bus Lobby area with Retail Center.
Everyone Please try this,
You'll like it !!!
Gotta check out this COOL site,
www.MICDOT.com
It's all there my friends !!!

[Elsongs]

The Cuban swim team would win the Gold

[ChuckScraperMiami#1]

Originally Posted by ChuckScraperMiami#1

JZ , my friend,
talk about " MIC ", ( see ya real soon ) " key ", " Y " because we need this " key "Intermodel Center near our Airport,
and now it's a reality, Its finally going Vertical after so many years of the stalled 2 Billion dollar project of a huge 15,000 car rental garage and a 4 way Train link ( Metro-Rail, Tri-Rail, Airport People Mover Monorail and Metro Bus Lobby area with Retail Center.
Everyone Please try this,
You'll like it !!!
Gotta check out this COOL site,
www.MICDOT.com
It's all there my friends !!!

P.S. I had to re-edited this for the correct spelling of the Cool website
Please try it again,